Garment hanger retainer



Jan. 12, 1960 e" IVAN I GARMENT HANGER RETAINER Filed June 28, 1957INVENTOR G'e ryazdz'ne [van United States Patent GARMENT HANGER RETAINERGeryoldine Ivan, Hot Springs National Park, Ark.

Application June 28, 1957, Serial No. 668,697

6 Claims. (Cl. 211-123) I ment for a clothes hanger supporting rod orpole which will maintain the hangers in spaced apart relation to oneanother so that the garments supported thereby will not be crowdedtogether and wrinkled and so that garments can be selected readily andthe availability of spare hangers' will be readily apparent.

Further objects of the invention are to provide an attachment by meansof which the garment hangers and the garments supported thereby will nothave to be slid back and forth along a pole or rod to locate a desiredgarment, and by means of which garments may be readily maintained in adesired orderly arrangement.

Still another object of the invention is to provide an attachment whichmay be readily mounted detachably or permanently upon rods or poles ofvarious cross sectional sizes and lengths and which are formed ofvarious materials, and which may be utilized in clothes closets, ongarment racks and in connection with other garment storage facilities.

Various other objects and advantages of the invention will hereinafterbecome more fully apparent from the following description of thedrawing, illustrating a presently preferred embodiment thereof, andwherein:

. Figure 1 is a fragmentary plan view of the body portion of theattachment;

Figure 2 is an enlarged fragmentary top plan view showing the attachmentapplied to a clothes hanger supporting rod or pole, and

Figure 3 is a cross sectional view, taken substantially along a plane asindicated by the line 33 of Figure 2.

Referring more specifically to the drawing, the garment hanger retaineris designated generally 5 and includes a body member, designatedgenerally 6, in the form of an elongated strip, as best seen in Figure1.

The body member 6 is preferably formed from a strip of sheet metal andis adapted to be of a width substantially greater than the diameter ormaximum cross sectional dimension of a clothes hanger supporting rod orpole 7, with which said body member 6 is adapted to be utilized, saidrelative dimensions being preferably of approximately those as shown inFigures 2 and 3. The strip or body member 6 along one longitudinal edge8 thereof is provided with a series of longitudinally spaced notches 9which open outwardly of the edge 8 and each of which is elongated in adirection crosswise of the strip 6 and is of a length substantially lessthan one-half the width of the strip 6. Said strip or body member 6adjacent to but spaced from the other longitudinal edge 10 thereof, isprovided with a series of longitudinally spaced openings 11, whichopenings are disposed in transverse alignment with the notches 9.

The strip 6 is also provided at longitudinally spaced points with pairsof slots 12, the longitudinal axes of which are disposed lengthwise ofthe strip 6. The individual slots 12 of each pair of slots are spacedapart a distance less than the spacing between the notches 9 andopenings 11. The body member or strip 6 at longitudinally spaced pointsis additionally provided with small openings 13, which are spaced equaldistances from the longitudinal edges 8 and 10.

The garment hanger retainer 5 also includes a plurality of yoke shapedrods 14 having threaded ends 15 which are adapted to be engaged by nuts16. The body member 6 is positioned against the underside of the rod orpole 7 and longitudinally thereof and with the medial portion of thestrip 6 bearing against the pole 7, as seen in Figure 3. The yoke shapedrods 14 engage over the pole 7 and the threaded ends 15 thereof extenddownwardly through the slots 12. The nuts 16 are applied to the threadedends 15 below the strip 6 and are tightened against the underside ofsaid strip to cause the strip to be bowed crosswise, as seen in Figure3. The spacing be tween the slots 12 is preferably approximately equalto the diameter or maximum cross sectional dimension of the pole or rod7. The strip or body member 6 is positioned so that the longitudinaledge 8 thereof faces forwardly or outwardly of the closet or storagespace in which the pole 7 is mounted.

From the foregoing it will be readily apparent that the shank 17 of thewire hook 18 of a garment hanger 19 can be positioned in one of thenotches 9 as the hook 18 is positioned over the rod 7, after which thegarment hanger can be displaced downwardly so that the bill 20 of thehook 18 will extend downwardly through the opening 11 which is locatedin transverse alignment with said notch 9. When the hook 18 is thusresting on the rod 7, a portion of the inner end of the hook whichmerges with the shank 17 will engage in said notch 9 to retain thegarment hanger 19 against sliding or turning movement relative to therod or pole 7. I

It will be apparent that a garment hanger hook 18 may thus engage eachnotch 9 and its aligned opening 11 for maintaining the garment hangers19 and the garments, not shown, supported thereby, in spaced apartparallel relation to one another and crosswise of the pole 7. The spacesbetween the notches 9 and between the openings 11 is such that garmentssupported by the hangers 19 will be held spaced from one another whenthe hanger books 18 are engaged with the notches 9 and openings 11, asseen in Figure 2.

It will be readily apparent that the hanger retainer 5 may be utilizedwith hanger supporting rods or poles 7 of different cross sectionalsizes and shapes and formed of different materials. If the pole 7 isformed of wood, screw fastenings, not shown, may be inserted upwardlythrough the openings 13 and anchored in the pole 7 for supporting thebody member 6 in lieu of the rods 14 and nuts 16, or in combinationtherewith. The body member 6 may be made in various lengths for use withpoles of different lengths and the number of slots 12 and openings 13will of course vary depending upon the length of the A an elongatedstrip snppqrted by the 'rod and having a medial portion bearing againstthe underside of the rod, means securing the strip to the rod, saidstrip having notches opening outwardly of one longitudinal edge thereofand a longitudinal row of openings disposed adjacent the otherlongitudinal edge thereof and with the individual openings in transversealignment with said notches, said openings being adapted to be engagedby the bills of clothes hanger hooks supported by said rod and saidnotches being engaged by other portions of said hooks for maintainingthe clothes hangers in spaced apart relation to one another andtransversely of said rod and strip.

2. A garment hanger retainer as in claim 1, said notches being elongatedin a direction transversely of said strip and being spaced from saidopenings a distance such that the hook portion, engaging the notch, willbe located adjacent the inner end of the notch when the bill of the hookis in engagement with the opening.

3. Agarment hanger retainer as in claim 1, said strip being formed ofsheet metal and being provided with longitudinally spaced pairs ofslots, the individual slots of each pair being transversely spacedrelative to one another, said means comprising yoke shaped rods engagingover said hanger supporting rod and having threaded ends extendingthrough said transversely spaced slots, and nuts engaging said threadedends and bearing against the. underside of the strip for retaining thestrip against the underside of the hanger supporting rod. 7 l

4. A garment hanger retainer comprising, in combination with anelongated garment hanger supporting rod, an elongated strip supported bythe rod and having a medial portion bearing against the underside ofsaid rod, said 4 strip being disposed. longitudinally of the rod andbeing of a width substantially greater than the maximum cross sectionaldimension of the rod, means securing said strip to the rod, and saidstrip having laterally spaced cutouts through which spaced portions ofgarment hanger hooks are adapted to extend when the hooks are engagingover and supported by the rod for retaining the hooks and garmenthangers thereof in spaced apart substantially parallel relation to oneanother and crosswise of said strip.

5. A garment hanger retainer as in claim 4, certain of said cutoutscomprising notches opening outwardly of a longitudinal edge of the stripand each adapted to be engaged by a portion of the garment hanger hookdisposed remote from the bill portion thereof.

6. A garment hanger retainer as in claim 4, said means comprisingsupporting elements engaging over the rod and extending through andadjustably secured to the strip for detachably clamping the strip to theunderside of the rod, said strip being formed of sheet metal and beingbowed transversely from end-to-end thereof to provide a concave upperside.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,256,849 Vaudreuil Feb. 19, 1918 2,438,324 Pfefter Mar. 23, 19482,442,099 Shoemaker May 25, 1948 2,580,231 Lamm Dec. 25, 1951 2,604,999Sutton July 29, 1952 2,658,627 Magnuson Nov. 10, 1953 2.805.780 BrennanSent. 10, 1957

